


4 times jungeun tries to confess to jiwoo but is thwarted by jiwoo's love for conspiracy theories (and the 1 time she succeeds)

by uwusoutforloona



Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: Childhood Friends, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Idiots in Love, and a useless lesbian, but she's also an idiot, conspiracy theories au, god bless jiwoo, jungeun and yeojin are my new favorite chaotic duo, jungeun is trying her best, please someone save jungeun from her own dumbassery, press f for jungeun throughout this entire fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:13:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28470681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uwusoutforloona/pseuds/uwusoutforloona
Summary: Jungeun never thought that conspiracy theories would get in the way of her love life and yet, here they are — getting in the way.
Relationships: Kim Jiwoo | Chuu/Kim Jungeun | Kim Lip
Comments: 15
Kudos: 107





	4 times jungeun tries to confess to jiwoo but is thwarted by jiwoo's love for conspiracy theories (and the 1 time she succeeds)

**Author's Note:**

> i've had this idea for a while now and i finally got my head out of my ass long enough to actually write it. special thanks to appel (@appelkoek_) for helping me with this and being my beta reader and dealing with my useless ass and another special thanks to chewy (@lowkeychuu) for helping me with one of the conspiracy theories in this
> 
> i hope you all enjoy it!

####  **I**

If Jungeun could, she would beat the ever living shit out of conspiracy theories.

Why does she want to beat the ever living shit out of conspiracy theories, you might ask? Well it’s because Jungeun has been in love with her best friend, Kim Jiwoo, for as long as she can remember (yes, she knows that doesn’t answer the question but she’s getting there so don’t be so impatient!). Ever since that fateful day in grade school when Jiwoo had given her one of her sacred stickers (an owl sticker) to put on Jungeun's notebook with a big grin on her face after having declared that they would be “the bestest of best friends for as long as they both live,” Jungeun was a _goner_. Now, she knows that some might say that there’s no way that she even _knew_ what love was at such a young age. To which, she will reply that she is a lesbian and lesbians are just destined to hopelessly yearn after their best friends even at the ripe age of ten. And that’s _exactly_ what she did. Yearn after her best friend for ten _long_ years and counting! Pining over someone for ten years is kinda pathetic, she knows. But it’s also kinda really impossible to get over someone as amazing and wonderful as Jiwoo. 

Jiwoo is, well, Jiwoo is _everything_.

Jiwoo is the best, best friend she could ask for. She laughs at Jungeun’s shitty jokes and embraces her dorky side. She writes her notes full of encouragement every day and intently listens to everything that she has to say. She gets Jungeun in a way that no one really ever has. Jiwoo is the embodiment of the sun and brimming with so much positive energy that anyone within even two meters of her gets an instant dose of serotonin. Jiwoo practically vibrates with pure happiness. It’s impossible _not_ to fall for her.

Jungeun is perfectly content with just staying as best friends with Jiwoo. _Really_ , she is. But the thing with being in love with your best friend for ten years is that you eventually start to become impatient. It’s not like she _expects_ anything from Jiwoo. She doesn’t think that she has a right to being Jiwoo’s girlfriend nor does she believe that Jiwoo owes her in any way simply because of how long she’s been in love with her. No, it’s nothing like that. Jungeun is impatient with _herself_. She’s been keeping this love for Jiwoo to herself for _ten_ (has she already mentioned that?) years and it’s time she gets it off her chest. Not because she expects anything in return but for the sake of her own sanity.

She wants to move on. She _needs_ to move on. In order to do that, she has to confess and get some sort of closure instead of just continuing to silently suffer for the sake of leftover teenage angst. So that’s what she does. Confess. Or at least she _tries_ to.

But how do conspiracy theories fit into this? Well, _that_ is exactly where the problem lies. In the past four months, Jiwoo had grown a sudden fascination with conspiracy theories and her newfound _obsession_ with them is now getting in the way of Jungeun confessing! She wishes that she was kidding — _really_ , she does — but the unfortunate reality is that she’s not. Anytime she tries to bring it up to Jiwoo, the red haired girl goes on another tangent about a new conspiracy theory that she read about on a forum for conspiracy theories enthusiasts — honestly, who the hell even uses a _forum_ anymore?

Before her plans to confess, Jungeun had always found Jiwoo’s weird love for conspiracy theories to be cute and endearing. But now, she wants to squash that love like it’s a bug because _what._ _the. actual. fuck_? She didn’t think confessing to Jiwoo would be _this_ hard.

Jungeun is a ~~pessimist~~ realist. She’s fully prepared to be rejected by Jiwoo because despite how loving Jiwoo is, she has never shown interest in _anyone_. Not even _Ha Sooyoung_. Resident “Lesbian Jesus” — self-proclaimed — and one of the most beautiful girls on campus. Sooyoung is popular because of her charming personality and god-like dance skills that never fail to wow the audience at every showcase she performs at. She also happens to be one of their best friends and is currently in a very happy relationship with their _other_ best friend, Jo Haseul — resident “genius” classical singer and _also_ one of the most beautiful girls on campus. If Jungeun wasn’t already helplessly in love with Jiwoo, she probably would have fallen for them. But that’s besides the point. The _point_ is that before Sooyoung and Haseul were grossly romantically entangled, Sooyoung had confessed to Jiwoo. And to everyone’s shock, Jiwoo rejected her. Shocking, both because a) everyone thought that they were already practically dating and b) it’s _Sooyoung_ , “Lesbian Jesus” and all that jazz. Not only that but, aside from Jungeun, Sooyoung is the closest person to Jiwoo. On paper, they’re a perfect fit for one another. But Jiwoo rejected her. If Jiwoo rejected the all-mighty Ha Sooyoung (don’t tell her Jungeun said that though; her ego doesn’t need to get any bigger) then how would Jungeun fare? Her chances aren’t looking too good as of right now. 

So yeah, the confession itself shouldn't have been the hard part. She knows that she can do it and isn't nervous in the slightest because well, it’s _long_ overdue. The hard part for her is what comes after. She knows that their friendship won’t be ruined just because she confessed (after all, Jiwoo and Sooyoung are still as close as they can be) but she knows that it’ll at least be awkward for a bit. There might be some avoidance on both her and Jiwoo’s end — although, let’s be honest, it'll just be on her end — and the thought of not seeing Jiwoo for a while hurts. And while Jungeun is fully prepared to get rejected, she doubts that she’ll come out unscathed. Knowing that it’s coming and experiencing it are two very different things. She knows it’ll destroy her beyond repair but she _needs_ to do it. But she won’t be able to get to the hard part if she can’t even confess because of these stupid conspiracy theories!

If she was keeping a scoreboard, she would say that conspiracy theories were ahead of her by twelve points — yes, she has already tried confessing to Jiwoo _twelve_ times — while Jungeun sat at a measly _zero_ points. This is honestly just getting depressing.

Jungeun never thought that _conspiracy_ _theories_ would get in the way of her love life and _yet_ , here they are — getting in the way.

But today, Jungeun is determined for it to go smoothly. Conspiracy theories be damned! Or at least that’s what she tells herself as she walks to their usual lunch spot in the courtyard near the Arts Department where Jiwoo is located. They’re both early enough that it’s only the two of them and Jungeun sends a quick thanks to Lesbian Jesus ( _actual_ Lesbian Jesus, not Sooyoung) above for this opportunity. Jiwoo is scrolling through her phone while munching on a burger and fries when Jungeun gets there and she takes that chance to immediately execute her plan of confessing to the redhead.

As she slides into the spot next to Jiwoo, the words barely make it out of her mouth before she’s overwhelmed by Jiwoo’s excitement. “Hey, so I was wondering if we could–”

“Jungeun! Did you know that there’s a theory about the Earth being hollow? Not only is it hollow but there could be _another_ Earth within this one! Apparently there are a bunch of entrances that lead into the hollow Earth. Isn’t that interesting?”

“Um, yes?” Jungeun slowly answers before trying to backtrack. “Okay, but listen, I have something to tell yo–”

“So _apparently_ these entrances are located in the South and North Poles and a guy named Admiral Richard Byrd supposedly discovered one of these entrances in 1947 when he flew over the North Pole. Ancient-astronaut theorists also believe that there are advanced civilizations that live within this other Earth that’s inside our Earth.”

“What– Ancient-astronaut theorists? Where did you even hear about this theory?”

“Ancient Aliens.”

“ _Ancient Aliens_?” Jungeun asks incredulously.

Jiwoo’s reply is muffled as she takes another bite of her burger. “Mmpheym, don’t judgmphf me. It’s an interestmmng showmph.”

“Riiiiight.” Jungeun says with an expression that’s a mixture of disgust and affection at Jiwoo speaking with her mouth full. “Anyways, what I wanted to tell you was that I really li– _aarrghh_!”

Jungeun is suddenly cut off by a powerful slap to the back which makes her double over in pain and choke on her own spit. The familiar low voice full of cheer that follows the slap belongs to none other than Jung Jinsoul, _another_ best friend of theirs — although Jungeun is now _seriously_ reconsidering their friendship. “Hey! What are you two talking about?”

“Oh! I was just telling Jungeun about a new conspiracy theory that I discovered. Did you know that the Earth is hollow?”

Jungeun is still reeling from the pain caused by Jinsoul’s slap as Jiwoo continues to ramble on about the ridiculous hollow Earth theory. Jinsoul is immediately captivated by Jiwoo’s frantic explanations of an advanced civilization at the core of the Earth and gives Jiwoo her full attention, completely ignoring the fact that she had just sent Jungeun into an early grave. At this point, Jungeun is pretty much planning about fifty different ways to murder Jinsoul for not only smacking her in the back hard enough to give her a heart attack (seriously, what was the _reason_?) but also for interrupting her confession to Jiwoo. She was _so. fucking. close!_ Maybe she should murder Sooyoung as well because Jinsoul was _her_ best friend _first_ and the reason why they all know each other. Okay, so maybe she still has a _tiny_ bit of jealousy left over from when Sooyoung asked Jiwoo out but that’s neither here nor there. 

Not quite done with cursing the day she met Jinsoul, a soothing hand rubs her shoulder and a soft voice asks her, “Are you okay? That looked like it hurt.”

Finally looking up, Jungeun is met with the heavenly face of one Myoui Mina, Jinsoul’s girlfriend. Jungeun has only ever met and talked to Mina a handful of times but she knows that the older girl is extremely kind and caring. Unlike her _demon_ of a girlfriend, Mina is an angel and it’s a wonder how Jinsoul managed to convince Mina to date her. Honestly, Jungeun is a little touched that Mina would go out of her way to ask her if she’s okay.

“There might be a bruise the shape of Jinsoul’s palm on my back for a couple of weeks but I’m okay for now. Although, Jinsoul is now at the top of my shit list.”

“Well, I’ll be sure to let her know when I get the chance.” Mina giggles and sits down next to Jinsoul. Jungeun sends her a grateful smile before shooting Jinsoul a glare.

Soon after Jinsoul’s and Mina’s arrival, the rest of their best friends (yes, she knows that they have a lot of best friends but they just have a lot of love to go around, okay?) begin to show up one by one, which means that Jungeun has yet again missed her chance at confessing to Jiwoo. All Jungeun can do is sigh while accepting her defeat and half-heartedly stab at her chicken alfredo as her friends discuss the possibilities of there being another Earth inside the one they’re currently inhabiting.

Conspiracy theories: 13. Jungeun: 0.

####  **II**

Jungeun is currently scouring the campus for Jiwoo because the girl seems to have disappeared from the face of the Earth. Jiwoo isn’t answering any of her text messages or her phone whenever Jungeun had tried to call her to find her whereabouts. Jungeun isn’t really worried because she knows that Jiwoo can handle herself (the girl may be a ball of sunshine but she also has a black belt in taekwondo with six years of experience and anyone who dares try to harm her in any way will be dealt with swiftly and effectively). All she wants is to know where her best friend is because today is the day.

Today is _the_ day. Jungeun has a pretty good feeling that she’ll finally be able to confess today.

But in order to do that, she needs to locate Jiwoo first, which is apparently a much harder feat than she had anticipated. Going through Jiwoo’s schedule in her head, she mindlessly opens the door to an empty classroom and comes face to face with Heejin and Hyunjin sucking the life out of each other by mashing their mouths together (okay, even she has to admit that descriptor sounded _gross_ ). The two of them quickly jump apart from each other at the sound of Jungeun entering the room and look at her with wide eyes. What the fuck? Last she checked, Heejin and Hyunjin _hated_ each other — despite being best friends...yeah, she doesn’t really know how that works either — so why the hell are they kissing each other in a dark, empty classroom (which they really should have had the decency to at least lock)?

The only thing that comes out of her mouth at the scene before her is, “Uhhhh.” 

“Ummm, hi Jungeun unnie.” Heejin greets with a polite smile before whispering to Hyunjin in a slightly aggressive voice. “Hyunjin, what the hell? I thought you said you locked the door?”

“What? _Me_? _You_ said you locked the door.” Hyunjin whispers back, matching Heejin’s tone.

Heejin whips her head towards Hyunjin, glaring at the taller girl. “No, I _asked_ you if you locked the door and you said yes!”

“ _No_ , you didn’t. _I_ asked y–”

“Not to interrupt whatever all _this_ ,” Jungeun gestures to them in a circular motion, “is right now but have either one of you seen Jiwoo? Like recently? Or today? Or _anywhere_?”

“Sorry, I haven’t seen her.” Heejin answers with an apologetic tone.

“Oh, I saw her go into, like, the back of the library when Lia and I were there earlier.”

Perking up at Hyunjin’s reply, Jungeun eagerly asks, “Really? How long ago was that?”

“Like twenty or thirty minutes ago? She might still be in there.”

“Wait, what were you doing there with _Lia_?” Heejin narrows her eyes at Hyunjin in an accusatory manner.

Not at all disturbed by the shorter girl’s expression, Hyunjin simply responds, “We were working on a project together, that is until you sent me a text to meet you here.” She smirks. “No need to get jealous or anything. As annoying as you are, these lips only belong to you. So far anyways.”

“I’m not jealous. Who would be jealous over _you_?” Heejin pauses before deepening her glare. “Wait, what do you mean by _so far_?”

“ _Y_ _eah_ , so far. It’s not like you’ve asked me to be your girlfriend so this whole thing isn’t permanent or anything.” Hyunjin soullessly states like it’s a well-known fact, but Jungeun swears she can hear a hint of bitterness in her tone.

“Why am _I_ expected to ask you to be my girlfriend? Maybe I’ve been waiting for _you_ to ask me to be _your_ girlfriend.”

“I never said you were expect–” Stopping mid-sentence, Heejin’s words fully register in Hyunjin’s mind and she stares at the older girl with a shocked expression. “Wait, you’ve been waiting for me to ask you to be my girlfriend?”

“Uh, well, thanks for the information.” Jungeun awkwardly interjects, but the two sophomores are too focused on each other to hear her.

Heejin shrugs, trying to act nonchalant about what she just said and mumbles, “I mean, _maybe_.”

“What do you mean _maybe_? It’s a yes or no question.”

“Hey! If you don’t want me to be your girlfriend then you can say so. You don’t have to make such a big deal out of it.” Heejin nearly shouts, frustrated at Hyunjin’s continued interrogation.

“I’m not making a big deal out of it. I’m just asking you if you want us to be girlfriends or not. _You’re_ the one making a big deal out of it by dodging the question.”

Acknowledging the fact that the two of them have already forgotten about her existence, Jungeun begins to steadily back out of the room step by step. “Um, I’m just gonna...head out now.”

“God, you are so _infuriating_. I don’t know why I even like you in the first place. I must be fucking insane to like someone as irritating as you.” Heejin rants, too worked up to stop the words from coming out of her mouth.

“Well, it’s not like I know why I like you either. Sure, you’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever met and your passion for art is really inspiring to me and _maybe_ I find it really cute that you try to skateboard everywhere you go despite not being able to stand on the skateboard for more than thirty seconds. Like yeah, I _admit_ that the pout that you give me anytime I say something that bothers you is adorable and teasing you is probably one of my favorite things to do because I love seeing your reactions. And _okay_ , I could listen to your voice all day because I _might_ have a thing for it more than the average person probably should…”

Hyunjin’s voice fades into silence as Jungeun slowly closes the door, not wanting to be in the middle of their lovers’ quarrel any longer than necessary. She makes sure to press the button on the inside handle to lock it so that no one else meets the same unfortunate fate as her and walks into the classroom in the middle of them kissing because it seems like they were seconds away from attacking each other’s face again with their lips. Jungeun shudders at the thought. It never occurred to her that Heejin and Hyunjin were into each other what with their weird rivalry that they had going on. Then again, if Jungeun takes the time to think about it, they _did_ always have some underlying romantic tension but whatever, it’s not really her business. It seemed like that they were about to get their shit together before Jungeun left so congrats to them, she guesses. It’s not like she really needs to worry about their love life when she can’t even figure out her own. Shaking her head free of 2Jin thoughts and their strange arrangement, Jungeun heads for the library.

When she gets there, she heads to the back like Hyunjin had said where Jiwoo would be and spots the familiar back that belongs to Jiwoo (yes, Jungeun can tell that it’s her based on her back and no, it’s not that weird). Noticing that the redhead is preoccupied with something else, Jungeun seizes the opportunity and rushes over to the seat next to Jiwoo.

Before she knows it, the words come spilling out of her mouth — afraid that if she wastes any more time, she wouldn’t be able to get them out. “So listen, I have something I _really_ need to tell you. I’ve been trying to tell you this for the past three weeks but it seems that every time I try to, it just didn’t work out. But I’m going to tell you now. _Jiwooming_ , I’m in love with you. I have been for the past ten years. I never told you because I was afraid that it would ruin our friendship but now that I’m older, I know that we can move past it. I know you don’t feel the same but I just needed you to know. I don’t expect anything to come out of this and I understand if you need some time and space to figure out where we stand. I wanted to tell you because I want to move past this. I don’t want to become one of those people that grow bitter and hateful just because you can’t return my feelings. But _Jiwoo-ah_ , I love you. I hope we can stay friends because really, that’s all I want.”

When Jungeun is finished, there is a lingering stillness that hangs in the air but she isn’t too fussed because she figures that Jiwoo just needs time to process the bomb that she had just dropped. But one minute turns into three then into five then into ten and now Jungeun isn’t so confident anymore. When it finally gets past the thirty minutes mark, she is undoubtedly anxious. Jungeun was prepared for an immediate rejection and maybe even a request for some time away from each other, but she never expected complete silence. Maybe she’s made a mistake. Maybe confessing wasn’t the right thing. What if Jiwoo wants to end their friendship? What if Jiwoo suddenly hates her now? What if she had just ruined everything? 

Just as the questions seep into Jungeun’s mind, drowning her in self-doubt, Jiwoo looks over to Jungeun with a blank face which quickly turns to one of surprise. What Jiwoo does next makes reality crash into Jungeun like the meteor that had caused the extinction of dinosaurs. 

_Reaching up, Jiwoo pulls out an AirPod from her ears._

Record scratch. Freeze frame. If anyone happens to pass by where they are right now, they would see a blonde girl with an expression of total disbelief on her face. And that girl would be Jungeun. She shakes her head, still trying to comprehend and cope with how laughable this situation has become. She can’t believe her luck. She thinks that maybe God hates her because this _can’t_ be her life.

“Oh, hey Eunnie. I didn’t notice you there. Have you been here long?” Jiwoo says brightly.

“Um, kind of.” Jungeun replies, still trying to understand how any of this could be happening to her. “So wait, did you not hear anything that I said earlier?”

“Did you say something? I was listening to a podcast and I was really into it so I didn’t hear you. Sorry.” Jungeun feels like she’s about to burst into tears at her unbelievable bad luck. She can’t believe that she just spilled her heart out to Jiwoo and it turns out she wasn’t even listening! Not a _single_ word was heard. She was basically just talking to herself the entire time. This is so _humiliating_. “So the podcast I was listening to was talking about how Finland isn’t a real country.”

The whiplash that Jungeun experiences from the sudden change in mood is enough to make her almost pass out. _Of course_ , Jiwoo was listening to a podcast about _conspiracy theories._ They’re the reason that Jungeun hasn’t been able to confess to her best friend this entire time so why would today be any different? Wait, did Jiwoo just say that Finland isn’t real? “I’m sorry, what?”

“Yeah! It’s kinda crazy but the people on the podcast were saying that the landmass for Finland isn’t real and it was just something Russia and Japan made up.”

“Well, you got the crazy part right.”

“No, but what if it’s true?” Jiwoo leans closer to Jungeun, her eyes twinkling with glee.

She can’t be _serious_. “You can’t be _serious_.”

“Oh, come on Jungie! At least entertain me for a little bit. What if the landmass that is supposed to be Finland is just actually a big sea? What if Russia and Japan are keeping it a secret so that they can have an unlimited resource of fish, oil, and a multitude of other trades? But how will they go about that? By making up a fake country and convincing the rest of the world that it’s real!”

“You know that there are _actual_ people that live in Finland, right?”

“No! They live in a place that they _think_ is Finland but it’s not.”

“I– Okay, sure.” Jungeun begrudgingly accepts. Glancing down at her watch, she lets out a sigh of defeat (she’s been doing that a lot lately). “I have to go to swim practice now so I’ll catch you later okay, Jiwooming?”

“Bye Eunie!” Jiwoo cheerfully waves goodbye before putting her headphones back in, grossly invested in her podcast.

Jungeun sighs again and grabs her bag from the floor, flinging it onto one shoulder. She gives Jiwoo one last look before she makes her way out of the library. She feels completely and utterly crushed by her losing streak against something as inane as conspiracy theories. She had a good feeling for today, huh? Yeah, so much for _that_.

####  **III**

Jungeun should have known better than to get help from Yeojin but the high school senior had offered her services after having witnessed one of Jungeun’s failed attempts at confessing and while Yeojin is pure chaos in the body of a five year-old, she’s also in a surprisingly stable relationship (she tries her best not to dwell on the fact that even _Yeojin_ has somehow managed to get a girlfriend before her and how disheartening that is). Quite frankly, Jungeun is a little desperate so she had shamefully accepted the offer — although she couldn’t help but feel like she was making a deal with Satan’s right pinky toe. And to no surprise, it was a mistake on her part for agreeing to _anything_ that Yeojin had to offer because the plan Yeojin comes up with is _ridiculous_ and that’s putting it lightly.

“I’m not doing that.” Jungeun’s voice is firm and offers no room for argument (but this _is_ Yeojin they’re talking about so arguments are bound to happen whether she wants it or not).

They’re currently sitting on Jungeun’s bed with their backs leaning against the wall in the cramped dorm room that she shares with Kim Dahyun — a music prodigy that makes Jungeun feel like she hasn’t accomplished anything in life because of how good she is. The two have been brainstorming different ways for Jungeun to confess to Jiwoo and the ideas have just been getting more and more absurd by the second.

Yeojin stares at her in offense. “Why not? It’s _genius_.”

“It’s stupid.”

“ _You’re_ stupid.”

“Haha, what an amazing come back.” Jungeun says dryly. 

“I’m _telling_ you that it’ll _work_.” Yeojin insists. “Seriously, nothing can go wrong.”

“You literally want me to burst through the roof of Jiwoo’s dorm room by jumping from a helicopter to and I quote, “make an entrance so dramatic that she’ll be so enamored that she can’t help but fall madly in love with me” end quote.” Jungeun deadpans.

“Yeah? What’s wrong with that?”

Jungeun scoffs in disbelief. “What’s _wrong_ with _that_? You’re _kidding_ me, right? First of all, how are we even going to get a _helicopter_? Second of all, you expect me to break through a _roof top_ without somehow either breaking every bone in my body or _killing_ myself?”

“Okay, well, for the helicopter part, I know a guy so don’t you worry your age-riddled head over that.” Yeojin smirks, flicking at Jungeun’s forehead. Swatting it away, Jungeun threatens to cut off the younger girl’s fingers if she keeps it up. “As for the second concern, that’s just a chance you’ll have to take.”

“The fact that you “know a guy” that can help you get a helicopter is terrifying to me.”

Yeojin simply waves her off. “Let’s not focus on the less important details.”

“I’m not putting my life at risk for a dumb idea of yours that I _know_ won’t even work.”

“You never know until you tr–”

“No.”

“ _Ugh_.” Letting out an exaggerated sigh, Yeojin rolls her eyes. “Fine, we’ll do something less exciting like dressing you up in a Bigfoot costume and have you hand her some flowers.”

“What.”

“Don’t tell me that you don’t like that plan either.”

“Okay, I won’t.”

“Oh my god, can you just _please_ agree to _something_? You’re wasting my brilliance for no reason!” Yeojin exclaims, throwing her hands up in defeat.

“I wouldn’t call it brilliance.”

“Look, she’s obsessed with conspiracy theories. Well, use that to your advantage! Dressing up as Bigfoot will at least catch her attention long enough for you to confess to her. Don’t forget the flowers either.”

Jungeun blinks at Yeojin in bewilderment because the smaller girl is actually making some sort of sense but even then, it does little to ease her worries. “I don’t know. Do you really think that will work?”

“Hey, which one of us has a girlfriend here? Of course it’ll work!”

“Speaking of which, I’m still wondering how you managed to convince Lena to tie herself to someone that will only ever cause her grief.”

“What– I’m a _good_ girlfriend!”

Jungeun grimaces. “Does she know that you’re currently torturing me with your wild ideas?”

“Hey, I didn't come here to get slandered about my love life. At least I _have_ one. You’re a sad and lonely single gay who’s been yearning after her best friend for ten years and is letting conspiracy theories get in the way of confessing.”

_Ouch_ , that one hurt a bit. Jungeun gapes at Yeojin, conflicted about whether or not she should be offended by the remark or respect Yeojin for being brave enough to say something like that to her. “Damn, okay. Tone it down a notch there Yeojinnie. You’re about eight centimeters _too_ short to be throwing that much snark around.”

Yeojn rolls her eyes again and huffs. “Are you going to do it or not?”

“Hmmm.” Jungeun pauses to think about the pros and cons of humiliating herself by dressing up as Bigfoot but then again, she’s willing to do anything for Jiwoo if it means seeing the girl happy. And as much as she hates to admit it, Jiwoo would probably be extremely delighted by the prospects of Jungeun in a Bigfoot costume. Resigned to her fate, Jungeun nods. “Yeah, okay. I’ll do it.”

Yeojin's lips curl up into a big mischievous grin and she fist pumps the air. “Yes! It’ll definitely work. Just you wait!”

Jungeun begins to contemplate her entire existence the next day when she’s actually in the Bigfoot costume, walking through the crowd of students giving her judgemental glances under the blazing hot midday sun in search of Jiwoo. She also begins to question why she had ever listened to Yeojin in the first place because this is _beyond_ embarrassing. The only thing preventing her from finding a way to drill a hole in the concrete ground and burying herself in it is the promise of seeing a smile on Jiwoo’s face.

“Okay, my sources say that Jiwoo unnie is near the fountain approximately zero point six meters away from you.” Yeojin’s voice comes through in the headpiece in Jungeun’s ears — when Jungeun had asked the younger girl about how she had managed to get the equipment, Yeojin simply replied with “I know a guy” and Jungeun left it at that.

“Your _sources_?”

“Yeah, I know a g–”

“ _Don’t_ finish that sentence.” Jungeun quickly interrupts, not wanting to hear more about Yeojin’s sketchy connections.

“I have visuals on the target.”

“Wha– _Target_? It’s just Jiwoo.”

Yeojin lets out a loud sigh through the microphone. “You’re seriously so boring. I feel sorry for Jiwoo unnie if she ends up dating you.”

“We’re not going to date. I’m going to confess to her and she’ll reject me which will force me to move on and then we can go about being best friends without any romantic feelings attached whatsoever.”

“Now that’s just sad.”

“Whatever.” Jungeun quickly changes the focus back to the task at hand. “Where are you anyways? How do you even see Jiwoo?”

“I’m hiding in a bush near the fountain.”

“You’re what?”

“This is a covert mission, I can’t let her see me!” Yeojin quickly justifies.

“We’re not– You know what? I’m just gonna leave it alone.”

It takes her a few more tries but she finally spots Jiwoo in the distance — which is much farther than zero point six meters like Yeojin had said (that little shithead). Upon seeing her, Jungeun suddenly forgets about the fact that she’s sweating like she’s been running a sixteen kilometers marathon and that everyone is staring at her like she’s lost her mind (which to be honest, she probably has). Jungeun immediately makes a beeline to her best friend, wanting to quickly get to the person she feels safest around. When she makes it there, Jiwoo has her back turned to her. With flowers in hand at the ready, Jungeun taps on Jiwoo’s shoulder and pushes the bouquet towards her once she turns around. At first, all Jiwoo does is blankly blink at her, causing her anxiety to go into overdrive and her brain shouts at her to “ABORT MISSION!!!” but after a beat of awkward silence, Jiwoo slowly begins to smile. She takes the flowers from Jungeun and puts them closer to her nose to smell them.

She excitedly looks back at Jungeun, who is very much still in the Bigfoot costume that’s slowly rising in temperature. “Do you believe in Bigfoot too?”

“Uhhhh, sure.” Jungeun hesitantly says. Her voice is muffled by the costume but it comes out clear enough for Jiwoo to understand.

“It’s speculated that the name “Bigfoot” was just given to two huge grizzly bears that were widely known in the nineteenth and twentieth century. Of course, a lot of sightings for Bigfoot have been proven to be hoaxes but I still think that there’s a possibility of Bigfoot’s existence. What do you think?”

“Ummm, well, actually. I just wanted to con–”

Jiwoo cuts Jungeun off by suddenly grabbing a hold of her arm, err, well _Bigfoot’s_ arm. “Oh! I forgot to mention that some people theorize that the species of Bigfoot are also aliens or that aliens had come to Earth to experiment on us and thus Bigfoot was born. Isn’t that insane?”

Completely overwhelmed by the words spilling out of Jiwoo’s mouth, all Jungeun can do is stand rooted in place in dumbfounded silence as Jiwoo continues. By the time that she comes back to her senses, she’s standing outside of Jiwoo’s next class. Apparently, in her dazed state, she had willingly followed Jiwoo to her classroom as the girl babbled on about Bigfoot. Seriously, how did Jiwoo memorize all of that information? Jungeun would be impressed if she wasn’t still processing everything that just happened. 

“Well, my class is about to start but it was nice meeting and talking to you! Thanks for the flowers!” Jiwoo declares and waves goodbye before entering her classroom, completely unbothered by the fact that she had just spent the last ten minutes talking to someone in a Bigfoot costume.

“Bye.” Jungeun weakly replies.

“Wow, that was really pathetic to witness.” Yeojin bluntly states, appearing behind Jungeun from out of nowhere.

Startled back to reality, Jungeun jumps ten feet into the air and lets out a shrill scream. “Yeojin, what the _fuck_? Where did you come from?”

“Oh, I was following you this entire time but you were too out of it and Jiwoo unnie was too invested in telling you all about Bigfoot to notice.” Yeojin plainly explains. “But seriously, watching you the entire time was just sad. You really need to step up your game. You said like two sentences the entire time.”

“Well, thanks to this _stupid_ costume, Jiwoo got distracted by Bigfoot so I couldn’t get a single word in.”

“Hey, my plan was _flawless._ You just got cold feet.”

Jungeun inhales deeply and glares at Yeojin. “You know, one of these days I’m going to drop kick you.”

“Yeahhhh, you don’t have the strength for that.”

“Your parents are probably gonna tell you someday that you’re adopted because there’s just no way you’re related to Haseul.”

“Are you kidding me? I’m super awesome and beautiful and Haseul is, _whatever_ she is. Of course, I’m adopted.” Yeojin quips, not at all fazed by Jungeun’s remarks.

“I hate you so much.”

“Yeah, yeah. Come on, you owe me lunch for my services.”

Jungeun simply stares at her. “I never agreed to that.”

“Well, I just added it to the contract!”

“We didn’t sign a contract.” 

“Whatever, just buy me food already.”

Jungeun rubs her temples, hoping to get rid of the headache that is slowly forming from everything that has happened and for being around Yeojin longer than doctor’s recommendations. But nonetheless, Jungeun ends up agreeing to buying Yeojin some food to get the smaller girl off her back. Later that day when Jungeun is in the middle of her Literature class, all she can think is that she _really_ should have known better than to trust Yeojin.

####  **IV**

When Jiwoo told her that she wanted to go camping, Jungeun didn’t think that she meant camping for _UFOs_. 

Actually, when Jiwoo had brought up the idea of camping, Jungeun's immediate response was, _“No.”_ And when Jiwoo had complained and asked her why not, her second response was, _“Why would I want to go out in the woods and be surrounded by bugs and potentially poisonous plants when I can just spend my weekend in the comforts of my home and sleep the days away?”_ Suffice to say, Jungeun wasn’t ( _i_ _sn’t_ ) very keen of the idea. But this was Jiwoo and Jungeun is unmistakably whipped for her so all it took was more whining and a pout for her to reluctantly agree to the outing. Of course, when she had agreed to it, she didn’t exactly question the _why_ behind Jiwoo’s sudden need to venture into the wilderness and drag Jungeun along to eventually be eaten by bears — turns out, that’s the _least_ of her worries. She had figured it was just another one of those impulses that Jiwoo couldn’t control and Jungeun simply went with the flow (okay, so maybe she also thought it would be a good opportunity for her to finally confess). But really, she should have known better.

With Jiwoo’s ever growing obsession with conspiracy theories and all things strange, Jungeun _really_ should have given it a second thought before saying yes. But she didn’t. And now she’s paying for the consequences of blindly complying to Jiwoo’s request. Her dear best friend had thought that in order to get legitimate footage of a UFO sighting, it would be a good idea to camp in the middle of the woods. Apparently the place that they’re camping at is notorious for its UFO sightings, according to Jiwoo’s research at least. Jungeun just thinks the entire thing is a hoax.

Jiwoo had planned the entire weekend out and even created an itinerary for them to follow. The redhead is thorough if nothing else. They had left at six in the morning, took a train, and arrived at a city that was near the woods by eight. Then for the rest of the day, they made their way to the campsite by means of hiking. Jungeun had no issues with a little bit of exercise (she _is_ on the swim team) but even she had to admit that _five_ hours worth of walking while carrying a backpack that weighs nearly seventeen kilograms was exhausting. By the time they had reached their destination, Jungeun was soaked in sweat and cursing whatever God that existed for putting her through so much shit. To make matters even more unfair, Jiwoo was left unscathed with not a single bead of sweat on her. Some higher being _definitely_ has it out for Jungeun. Collapsing on the ground as soon as they had gotten to their spot, she took a thirty minute breather before Jiwoo pulled her back up and coerced Jungeun into helping her set up camp for the night. By the time they finished, the sun was beginning to set and it was time to eat. 

So here they are. Done with their dinner and sitting near a fire that took them two hours to make with a tent that took them even _longer_ to build, smacked dab in a dark, creepy forest that’s filled with things that go bump in the night. Jungeun is busy questioning how her life turned out this way when all she wants to do is confess to her best friend when Jiwoo stands from her spot and stretches.

“Alright! This is the perfect time to gather some evidence!” She declares with a wide grin.

Jungeun gives her a look of disbelief. “Wait, you want to go _now_? During _night_ time?”

“Well, _duh_. UFO sightings only happen at night.”

“Of course, how could I be so foolish?” The sarcasm is evident in Jungeun’s voice but Jiwoo seems to be unbothered by it.

Pulling the blonde up from her chair, Jiwoo forcibly drags Jungeun with her. “Come on, there’s a lake near here where all the sightings take place. We need to find a place to hide ourselves. This is a covert mission after all!”

“Have you been hanging out with Yeojin?”

“Yes, actually. Why?”

“Figures.” Jungeun grumbles. “But why do we need to hide ourselves?”

“So that we don’t scare the UFOs away!”

“ _Riiiight_ , a couple of broke college students who decided that the best way to spend their weekend is to go camping for UFOs are going to scare _aliens_ away.”

“You never know!”

“I’m in love with a delulu.” Jungeun mumbles to herself under her breath.

“Sorry, did you say something?”

“Um, no–” Jungeun begins but stops, suddenly reminded that the biggest motivation behind her going on this trip with Jiwoo is so that she can confess. “ _Actually_ , I said that I can’t believe I’m in l-”

“We’re here!” Jiwoo declares, sweeping her arm out in a grand gesture towards the lake.

The lake itself is average sized, not too small and not too big. The flat land that leads into the lake is scattered with patches of vegetation, tall grass, and various weeds. The lake seems to be sparkling underneath the natural light of the moon with its perfectly still water. Jungeun understands now why this area is a popular attraction, even to aliens it seems. She would be more thrilled about how beautiful it looks if it wasn’t for the fact that she was being coerced into hunting said aliens by her best friend right now.

“Oh. Yay.”

“Maybe we can find a bush or something. Or we can climb a tree.”

“You want us to climb a tree?”

“Yeah, it’ll give us a good vantage point!”

Jungeun can already feel a headache beginning to form. “Isn’t that dangerous? I mean these trees are pretty tall.”

“We don’t have to go _that_ high. Just enough so that it’ll give us a decent overhead view of the lake.”

“Will there even be room for the both of us? Actually, will the branches be strong enough to support _two_ people?”

Jiwoo simply shrugs. “Guess we’ll find out!”

“That’s not the answer I wanted.”

Jungeun barely has time to protest any further before Jiwoo starts climbing the tree to their right. She takes a moment to stare up at the sky and wonder how she got herself in this situation to begin with. Oh, that’s right, she’s in love with a girl that’s obsessed with conspiracy theories. Whipping out her phone, Jungeun begins to type.

“Jungeunie! What’s taking you so long?” Jiwoo yells down, having already settled on her own branch.

“I’m coming, I’m coming. Just had to write my will really quick in case I die.”

“You’re so dramatic.”

“Yeah, say that when I _actually_ die.” Jungeun inhales, placing her hands on the tree and begins to climb. 

She finds another branch that seems sturdy enough to hold her right next to Jiwoo and wrap her arms and legs around it, holding on for her dear life. She needs to stop doing whatever Jiwoo asks of her simply because she gives Jungeun the slightest bit of attention. Her whipped ass has been getting her into situations that she would rather avoid (but will she actually do it? No </3). Looking over at Jiwoo, she sees her take out a video camera from her string backpack and balances it on the branch, facing it towards the lake. Jungeun doesn’t know why but she gets the weird sense that camera is going to be the cause of her pain in the near future. She simply brushes it off and shrugs. She’s probably just being paranoid — an unfortunate side effect of everything that had happened to her the past few weeks.

“Okay, so now we just have to wait.” Jiwoo says as she presses the record button.

“For how long?”

“However long it takes!”

“You– _Seriously_?” Jungeun exclaims. “What if it takes all night?”

“Then I guess we’re sleeping on these branches!”

“Tell me why I agreed to this again?”

“Because you love me, of course!” Jiwoo cheekily replies with a smirk.

“Well, I need to stop that.”

“Aw, come on Jungie! It’s an _adventure_. This is supposed to be fun!”

Jungeun scoffs. “I don’t know about you but sleeping on a tree branch six meters from the ground is _not_ my idea of _fun_.”

“Yeah, but sleeping on a tree branch six meters from the ground is fun because you’re with _me,_ right?”

“...yes.” Jungeun relents. 

It’s true that despite all her complaining today, she _had_ been having a great time because being with Jiwoo is all she really needs. Jiwoo just has this natural way about her that makes everyone else around her feel happy (it’s one of the things she loves most about Jiwoo) and Jungeun is not an exception to her charms. If anything, she’s more susceptible to it because of her feelings for the other girl, but she doesn’t mind it too much. After all, it’s Jiwoo.

“See? You _loooove_ me.” Jiwoo teases.

Yeah, she does. “Yeah, I do.” Jungeun yields with a soft smile on her face. “Listen Jiwoo, I know that we’re laying on a couple of tree branches right now and this might not be the best time to tell you this but I just really need to let you know that I’m in l–”

“Oh my god, Jungeun, did you just see that?” Jiwoo suddenly exclaims as she reaches over and shakes Jungeun’s shoulder.

Jungeun lets out a strangled scream but is quickly shushed by Jiwoo. Tightening her grip on the branch, she gives Jiwoo a look. “Holy fucking _shit_ , Jiwoo. What the fuck was that for? You almost killed me!”

“Look! Look! Look!” Jiwoo repeats, slapping Jungeun with every “look” she lets out. 

Jungeun frees one of her hands and slaps at Jiwoo’s slapping but misses. “Will you _stop_ that? I swear to God, I’m gonna haunt you for the rest of your life if you make me fall!” She aggressively whispers.

“Will you just look at the lake?”

“Fine.” Jungeun turns her attention to the lake and spots a deer that wasn’t there earlier drinking from the water. “Jiwoo, are you telling me that you almost _killed_ me because of a fucking _deer_?”

“Not the _deer_.” Jiwoo rolls her eyes. “I’m talking about those _lights_!” She asks, pointing to the area above the deer, just a little bit into the forest.

“Lights? What lig–” Jungeun’s eyes widen in shock as she sees three orbs of bright light in a straight horizontal line, about one meter from each other floating within the trees. “What the hell are those?”

“It’s a UFO!”

“No. _No_. No. Nonononononononono. _No_.” Jungeun chants, one step away from a breakdown. “There’s no way that’s a UFO. UFOs don’t exist!”

“Yes, they do and there’s one _right_ there! I have to make sure that I’m getting this on video!” Jiwoo is vibrating with so much excitement that Jungeun can practically _feel_ it.

All the shaking and slapping from earlier had moved the camera from its original position, leaving it precariously balancing on a singular sprig from the main branch. So when Jiwoo reaches out for it, the branch twitches from the movement and tips the camera over the edge. Jungeun feels like she’s watching the scene unfold in slow motion from another person’s perspective as she extends an arm out to chase after the camera. She doesn’t really understand why she does it. Maybe it’s the thought of Jiwoo’s sad expression if she were to see her valuable camera broken. Whatever it is, Jungeun’s body moves on its own and by the time her actions catch up to her brain, it’s already too late. She feels every part of her body detach itself from the branch that she had been holding onto so tightly just seconds earlier as she begins to fall. Seeing the camera just within her grasp, Jungeun stretches out her arm impossibly further and manages to grab onto it and twists her body to ensure that she won’t land on the camera before she hits the ground.

Jungeun lets out a wheeze of pain as all the air in her body is jettisoned out of her from the impact. The pain is unbearable. Like it’s stabbing at her from her toes all the way up to her head. Everything aches and she feels lightheaded. Staring up, she sees the extremely blurry form of Jiwoo scrambling down the tree towards her. Jungeun finds it hard to keep her eyes open as the sudden spurt of energy slowly seeps out of her body. The last thing she hears is Jiwoo frantically yelling out her name as she slips into unconsciousness.

When she wakes back up again, the first thing she notices is the weight of something on her lap and the feeling of someone else’s hand tangled up in hers. The next thing she notices is how bright everything is, causing her to blink a few times before getting used to it. She glances around the room that she’s in and based on the IV in her arm, the familiar smell of iodoform (you know that disinfectant smell that attacks your nose every time you step into the hospital?), and the gown that she’s in, Jungeun is ninety-nine percent sure she’s in a hospital — considering how often she’s spent her time at a hospital when she was a kid, waiting for her mom to get out of work. How she got there would be the question. Looking down at where her hand is, she sees a sleeping Jiwoo. Ah, that would explain it. A fond smile appears on her face as she continues to stare at her best friend’s still form and it’s also then that Jiwoo begins to stir.

Groggily rubbing her eyes, Jiwoo looks up at Jungeun and her eyebrows go up in surprise. “Jungeun! You’re awake!”

“Yeah, I am– _oof_.” Jungeun is interrupted when Jiwoo practically launches herself at her, hugging the blonde tightly.

“I was so worried. I am _so_ sorry I got you hurt like that. It was just supposed to be a fun and relaxing trip.”

“Jiwoo, it’s okay. I’m okay now.”

“It’s _not_ okay. The doctor said that you sprained your right arm and had a minor concussion. This wouldn’t have happened if I had been a little bit more careful with my camera.”

“Hey, stop beating yourself up. What’s done is done and it was my fault for being stupid enough to go after it.” Jungeun reassures. “Speaking of the camera, I saved it right?”

“You did! Although, I would prefer it being broken over seeing you hurt.”

“Yeah, but now you can just watch the video you caught of the UFO while we were there whenever you want.”

Jiwoo chuckles nervously which confuses Jungeun. “Yeah, _about_ that.” She rubs her neck and gives Jungeun a sheepish smile. “Funny story. The lights that we saw were like LED lights from one of those light bars that you can attach to a truck so that you can see better at night time for camping or whatever. So, _not_ a UFO. Actually the people who owned the truck were the ones that helped me get you to this hospital because they heard me scream your name.”

Jungeun’s heart drops lower and lower the more Jiwoo speaks. “You’re telling me that I fell from a tree and sprained an arm for a camera that contained footage of lights from a _truck_?”

“...yeah. Turns out we weren’t the only ones camping.”

“Right, cause why would anyone expect actual campers to be there in a forest for _camping_ aside from a couple of up and coming UFO hunters?”

Jiwoo sends her an apologetic smile and says, “Sorry.”

Jungeun presses her lips together and shrugs, simply accepting the absurd reality of what has happened. Her confession being interrupted by lights from a truck being mistaken for a UFO? _Yeah_ , that sounds about right.

####  **V**

"I can't believe I'm in love with a flat Earther." The words are out of Jungeun’s mouth before she can stop them but her mind still hasn’t caught up to her mouth and she remains blissfully unaware of her fatal mistake.

“Hey! I didn’t say I was a flat Earther, I just sai– Wait, what did you just say?”

It’s then that it dawns on Jungeun that she just told Jiwoo that she’s in love with her. And Jiwoo _actually_ _heard_ her this time. The blood in her body freezes and every bone and muscle in her body comes to a complete standstill. This really has to be some god damn joke. It’s like her life is a fucking rom-com because how else is _any_ of this real? _Of course_ Jiwoo only hears her confession when she says it as a passing joke. _Of course_ it happens when they’re sitting in their old, dingy and barely put together treehouse (which Jungeun is about ninety-five percent sure is due to collapse on them any day now) that their parents built them when they were kids instead of someplace actually _romantic_ , like on a picnic or under the starry skies. Although in hindsight, Jungeun has to admit that some of the settings she had chosen to confess at in the past weren’t exactly any better. Confessing in the middle of campus while wearing a Bigfoot costume — yes, Jungeun _still_ hasn’t forgiven Yeojin for that yet — wasn’t really the romantic showstopper she had wanted. But she’s tangenting because none of that matters right now.

She just told Jiwoo that she’s in love with her. All sudden-like and without a plan in sight. _Holy shit, she just told Jiwoo that she’s in love with her_. And Jiwoo is staring at her with her eyes wide open and mouth agape. A look of absolute shock on her face and Jungeun would find it comical if she isn’t busy having a full blown mental breakdown right now.

But then she stops mid-breakdown. Because _why_ is she freaking out right now? Isn’t this what she wants? Isn’t this the moment that she’s been trying to reach for the past three months of relentless failed attempts one after another? All this time agonizing over how to tell Jiwoo her feelings is over now. This is her opportunity and she’s _wasting_ it by a sudden surge of unnecessary insecurity. She can finally let Jiwoo know how she truly feels. She can _finally_ confess without the worry of being interrupted by another whack conspiracy theory that comes out of left field. With this newfound burst of motivation, the muscles in Jungeun’s body relaxes and her brain reboots itself.

Slowly gathering herself, she looks at Jiwoo dead in her eyes and tentatively replies, “Uhhh, I’m in love with you?” Okay, so maybe that wasn’t as smooth as she wanted it to be but it gets the point across.

“You–You _are_?” Jiwoo sputters.

“ _Yeahhhhhhhh_.”

“Why didn’t you tell me before?”

“Well, I _would_ have already by now if it wasn’t for your _illogical_ obsession with conspiracy theories.” Jungeun grumbles.

And just like that, everything is back to normal. The awkwardness dissipates and they’re just them again. Jiwoo gasps in offense and it’s just _so_ ridiculously dramatic and over exaggerated that Jungeun can’t help but laugh. “It is _not_ illogical! Kim Jungeun, you take that back!”

At Jiwoo’s scandalized tone, Jungeun laughs even harder because _god_ , she really _is_ in love with this girl and it feels so good to have it out in the open now. She can unabashedly show her love without fear. It’s so unbelievably freeing. “I will not be taking anything back Miss Kim Jiwoo. I think I have every right to call your weird love for conspiracy theories illogical seeing as how I spent the past three months trying to confess to you a hundred different times only to be interrupted every single time _because_ of those conspiracy theories.”

“You’ve been trying to confess to me for _three_ months?”

“Eh, that’s nothing compared to me being in love with you for the past ten years.” Jungeun shrugs.

“ _T_ _en years?!!?!?_ ” Jiwoo shrieks, causing Jungeun to cover her ears due to their close proximity. Jungeun swears she felt the treehouse shake from the sound. “Jungeun, _what. the. fuck?_ You mean to tell me that you’ve been in love with me for the past ten years and you never bothered telling me?”

Jungeun lets the ringing in her ears fade before replying, “Uh, yeah?”

“Don’t ‘uh, yeah” me.” Jiwoo mocks before she begins to hit Jungeun’s left shoulder.. “Kim Jungeun! How. Dare. You. Not. Tell. Me. That. You’ve. Been. In. Love. With. Me. For. The. Past. _Ten_. _Years_?” With every word punctuated, another slap makes contact with Jungeun’s shoulder followed by an “ow” from said girl.

Jungeun grabs Jiwoo’s wrist with her left hand in an effort to prevent her from causing any more harm. “Hey, hey, don’t damage the merchandise. What is it with you and slapping me? I swear sometimes you forget that you're a black belt in Taekwondo. You deal like a hundred hit points with every slap.” She rubs her shoulder with her free hand to soothe the throbbing pain. “Why are you so upset anyways?”

“Because I’m in love with you too, you dumb jock!” Jiwoo blurts out and begins another barrage of slaps on Jungeun’s _right_ shoulder this time.

“What.”

“Don’t “what” me.”

“You’re in love with me?”

“ _Yes_! And you would know _that_ if you didn’t tune me out every time I talked about conspiracy theories!”

With that, Jiwoo’s slaps begin to hit harder, causing Jungeun to wince in pain. She once again clasps onto Jiwoo’s hands with her own. “ _Ow_. Can you please stop _slapping_ me? You remember what happened the last time you slapped me? I fell from a tree!”

“That was your own fault for jumping down after my camera.”

“ _Yeah_ and that wouldn’t have happened if we weren’t on the tree in the first place!”

“Pfft, you’re fine. Your arm healed quickly. Don’t be such a baby.”

“Did you just- Did you just call me a _baby_ for complaining about falling from a _tree_?” Jungeun sputters, her mouth opened up in offense. But before Jiwoo can reply, she puts her hand up to interrupt. “Okay, you know what? We’re getting sidetracked. What do you mean I would have known that you were in love with me if I didn’t tune you out every time you talked about conspiracy theories? What do conspiracy theories have to do with you being in love with me?”

Jiwoo puffs her cheeks up in a pout before answering. “Did you think you were the only one trying to confess?”

“What–” Jungeun begins but stops herself. She takes a deep breath as she realizes what Jiwoo is implying. “Please don’t tell me that you’ve been trying to confess to me through your weird monologues about conspiracy theories.”

“ _Yeah_ , that is exactly what I have been trying to do! What’s _wrong_ with that?” Jiwoo huffs and crosses her arms. “ _Also_ , there’s nothing _weird_ about my tangents over conspiracy theories. You know, _you’re_ the reason I even got into them in the first place.”

“How am _I_ the reason?”

“ _Because_ five months ago, you said you were interested in conspiracy theories _so_ I did some research on them because I thought it would be a cute way to confess to you. But _obviously_ , that had proven to not work since your interest in them was fleeting. Like _really_ fleeting.”

Jungeun opens her mouth to speak but nothing comes out. She closes it again only to open it once more a few seconds later but still no words make their way out. She repeats this cycle for another two minutes before completely clamping her mouth shut and releasing a breath full of disbelief and frustration. “So you’re telling me that I had let Yeojin convince me into walking around our campus in a Bigfoot costume in the blazing hot sun to impress you because of your love of conspiracy theories only for you to tell me that the only reason why you love said conspiracy theories is because you were trying to impress _me_ with conspiracy theories that I no longer have any interest in?”

“Wait, that was you in the Bigfoot costume?”

Jungeun shakes her head and waves Jiwoo off, not wanting to further embarrass herself. “Not important.”

“Okay...But yes, that’s basically what I’m telling you.”

“So we’re both idiots.” Jungeun concludes.

Jiwoo can’t help but giggle at Jungeun’s exasperated expression and nods. “Yeah, we’re both idiots.”

“I hate my life.” Jungeun groans, burying her face into her palms out of exhaustion and defeat. “How come you never told me?”

“Well, I’ve tried and _have_ told you.”

“What? No, you haven’t.”

“Um, I don’t know how to tell you this Jungeun, but you’re oblivious as fuck.” Before the swimmer can protest, Jiwoo quickly adds. “Ah, ah, ah. No arguments out of you. I’m serious. You’re as oblivious as they come.” 

“I’m not _oblivious_.”

Jungeun peeks up from her palm to see Jiwoo simply stare at her with a blank expression for a solid minute before replying, “I told you every day in fifth grade that I would marry you and adopt a pet flying squirrel with you someday and you never took me seriously. Then in seventh grade, I _literally_ told you I was in love with you and you thought I meant it _platonically_. No, like you _actually_ asked me, “You mean in love with me as friends, right?” So I said yes because what else am I supposed to say to that? Then in ninth grade, I asked you on _several_ dates and each time, you told me that it was really nice going on _friend_ dates with me. In senior year, I planned that _extremely_ romantic promposal in the privacy of your room with petals from red roses shaped as a heart and candles and somehow you _still_ thought that I wanted to go with you because we’re best friends and neither one of us had dates. I rejected Sooyoung because I was pining after my very, _very_ _oblivious_ best friend. Not to mention all the times I’ve confessed to you every time we talked about conspiracy theories but then you tuned me out five words in every time. So yeah, I’ve told you. _A lot_ of times, actually.”

As Jiwoo recounted all the times she had confessed to the blonde, Jungeun’s expression slowly morphed from offense to utter terror as the truth behind Jiwoo’s words dawned on her. To say that she’s horrified is the _understatement_ of the century because she’s _beyond_ that. She buries her face deeper into her hands (an impressive feat considering that there’s not that much depth in her hands) and wishes for the ground to open up and swallow her whole. Or who knows, maybe those conspiracy theories are right and a UFO can appear above them and pull her up into their flying saucer so that she doesn’t have to deal with the devastating humiliation of just how unaware she was of Jiwoo’s love.

“It’s not us that are idiots. It’s just me. _I’m_ the idiot.” She mumbles into her palms.

“You said it, not me.”

Jungeun lets out a groan. “I hate my life.” 

Seeing Jungeun in such a defeated state, Jiwoo decides to take pity on her. She places a hand underneath Jungeun’s chin and tilts her head up until the blonde is looking at her before giving her an endearing smile. “ _Buuuuut_ you’re _my_ idiot so you get a pass.”

Jungeun’s breath catches in her throat and her eyes widen up in surprise at the loving look on Jiwoo’s face. “Yeah.” She squeaks out before clearing her throat. “I’ll be your idiot for however long you want me to be.”

“Wow, really? For as long as I want?”

Jungeun is left breathless at the teasing glint in Jiwoo’s eyes. It’s different from Jiwoo’s usual mischievous demeanor. This time, the look in her eyes is charged with something that Jungeun can’t quite decipher just yet. It’s like it’s daring Jungeun to finally make a move because they’ve gotten past the hard part already. Now, there’s only really one thing left to do and Jungeun can’t really help but be compelled to surrender herself to Jiwoo’s every whim, silent or otherwise. So she leans in closer until her face is five centimeters away from Jiwoo’s and replies, “Yeah.”

Jiwoo grins and closes the rest of the distance between them. “How about forever?” She mumbles against Jungeun’s lips before _finally_ kissing her and it’s everything Jungeun could ever ask for and more. 

Kissing Jiwoo is like a Winter’s breeze brushing past her, leaving a trail of goosebumps all across her body. The chill remains but she feels herself quickly defrosting by the warmth radiating off of Jiwoo. It’s comforting and reassuring and everything in between. When they part, Jungeun is in a haze and she can’t help the big smile that blooms on her face because kissing Kim Jiwoo might just be Jungeun’s favorite thing in the world. She leans back in again for another kiss but not before dazedly answering Jiwoo’s question. “Forever sounds perfect.”

_Maybe conspiracy theories aren’t_ that _bad._

####    
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> let me know your thoughts! :D


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